Comparison of Donor Cornea Storage in Optisol-GS and the Central Eye Bank of Iran (CEBI) Medium

Optisol-GS is still the most popular cold storage medium used in the United States for short term preservation of donated corneas. CEBI medium is a new cold storage medium made by the Central Eye Bank of Iran for donor cornea storage. This study was conducted to compare the quantitative and qualitative indices of the donated corneas maintained in Optisol-GS versus in the CEBI medium. In this prospective single-blind study, two corneas from each donor with a minimum of ‘‘an apparent fair cornea rating’’ were preserved in corneal maintenance media; randomly one in Optisol-GS and the other in CEBI. After 24 hours, slit-lamp biomicroscopic and specular microscopic examinations were performed and the qualitative and quantitative indices as well as final cornea rating were compared between the two media. Qualitative indices of the corneas in each medium before and after preservation were also compared. Three hundred and ninety-six corneas from 196 donors with a mean age of 35.7±14.3 years were enrolled: 194 corneas in Optisol-GS and the other 202 in the CEBI. There was no significant difference between the two media in terms of endothelial cell density, mean cell area, polymegathism, polymorphism, and vacuolation of endothelial cells. Corneal endothelial rating, Descemet’s folding, and stromal edema observed in donated whole globes improved significantly after preservation of the excised corneas in both Optisol-GS and CEBI media, with no difference between the two media. The results of this study show that the CEBI storage medium is comparable to Optisol-GS in short-term preservation of excised donated corneas. The CEBI medium can be considered as a suitable substitute for Optisol-GS.